E.D. C. (Farscapegirl) -
Helpful Score: 3
An American heiress heads to Victorian London and winds up getting married. Devon Sheridan, a widowed earl and father with a deteriorating estate, seeks to replenish his empty coffers by marrying Georgina Pierce, the plain, stubborn daughter of wealthy American Nathaniel Pierce. In exchange for unlimited access to Nathaniel's funds, Devon agrees to woo Georgina and provide her with the one thing she desires most children. Georgina quickly sees through the charade but marries him to please her father, who dies shortly after the wedding, having gambled away his fortune. With the help of his unconventional wife, however, Devon comes to realize that he can be wealthy without riches.
Juliana (philippaj) -
Helpful Score: 1
TO MARRY AN HEIRESS is a decent read, but the real star of it is the heroine, Georgina (or "Gina"). The first half of this book was great and if it had continued in that vein, I would undoubtedly be giving the book a higher rating. Gina is an honest, straight-forward American, without artifice, vanity, or basically a single mean or selfish bone in her body. She's not placid though and can definitely be a spitfire.
What made the book go downhill for me was the hero, Devon. At the beginning I thought I was going to love him - as I usually do with HR heroes. He was staid, serious, and kind of uptight, which provides many laughable and enjoyable encounters between him and Gina, since they are so different. However around halfway through the book, he started doing/thinking/saying things that really got on my nerves. I found it extremely annoying to always hear about his first wife, Margaret - especially since she seems to have been an extremely selfish woman, who was snobbish, arrogant, and basically all-around unpleasant. I found it disconcerting that even after she shows her true colors when they're in such financial straits, he continues to love her.
Worse than that, though, was Devon's whole view on the situation - his father has squandered their fortune so once he inherits, there's basically nothing to support the estates and the tenants living there. Disaster, of course, so while Margaret elegantly withers away in her despair of not being able to buy more ballgowns, he goes out to work in the field - causing her to disdain him and him to feel shame. I was so sick of him going on and on about how the aristocracy should be doing X and they shouldn't be doing Y and ____ is appropriate of our station while ____ is not. Okay, we got it already! I know the whole "beauty" of the ending is he realizes he shouldn't be ashamed of having to work alongside the tenants and not being able to afford the lifestyle of a nobleman, but it was just waaaaaaaay too long in coming. For the second half of the book I basically wanted to slap him out of his pity party and shake some sense into him - both common sense and a sense of equality, so he would stop going on about his rank and what was or was not appropriate.
Oh, and the ending (not the epilogue, but the declaration-of-love scene) was so corny I could hardly handle it; it was kind of sickly sweet and had me rolling my eyes and wanting to skim over. So basically, I loved his kids and I loved Gina - I just wish Devon in the second half of the book could be improved on.
P.S. Plus, what is up with Devon not even telling Gina before they get married that he already has two children?? In this case it's not a bad thing because Gina loves kids, but, ummmm, I don't know ... offspring might be one of those things that you mention to your betrothed *before* you say your vows. Just a thought.
(http://historical-romance-heaven.blogspot.com/)
What made the book go downhill for me was the hero, Devon. At the beginning I thought I was going to love him - as I usually do with HR heroes. He was staid, serious, and kind of uptight, which provides many laughable and enjoyable encounters between him and Gina, since they are so different. However around halfway through the book, he started doing/thinking/saying things that really got on my nerves. I found it extremely annoying to always hear about his first wife, Margaret - especially since she seems to have been an extremely selfish woman, who was snobbish, arrogant, and basically all-around unpleasant. I found it disconcerting that even after she shows her true colors when they're in such financial straits, he continues to love her.
Worse than that, though, was Devon's whole view on the situation - his father has squandered their fortune so once he inherits, there's basically nothing to support the estates and the tenants living there. Disaster, of course, so while Margaret elegantly withers away in her despair of not being able to buy more ballgowns, he goes out to work in the field - causing her to disdain him and him to feel shame. I was so sick of him going on and on about how the aristocracy should be doing X and they shouldn't be doing Y and ____ is appropriate of our station while ____ is not. Okay, we got it already! I know the whole "beauty" of the ending is he realizes he shouldn't be ashamed of having to work alongside the tenants and not being able to afford the lifestyle of a nobleman, but it was just waaaaaaaay too long in coming. For the second half of the book I basically wanted to slap him out of his pity party and shake some sense into him - both common sense and a sense of equality, so he would stop going on about his rank and what was or was not appropriate.
Oh, and the ending (not the epilogue, but the declaration-of-love scene) was so corny I could hardly handle it; it was kind of sickly sweet and had me rolling my eyes and wanting to skim over. So basically, I loved his kids and I loved Gina - I just wish Devon in the second half of the book could be improved on.
P.S. Plus, what is up with Devon not even telling Gina before they get married that he already has two children?? In this case it's not a bad thing because Gina loves kids, but, ummmm, I don't know ... offspring might be one of those things that you mention to your betrothed *before* you say your vows. Just a thought.
(http://historical-romance-heaven.blogspot.com/)
